Cognitive remediation benefits people with schizophrenia, and when combined with psychiatric rehabilitation, this benefit generalizes to functioning, relative to rehabilitation alone. These benefits cannot be attributed to poor study methods.

Objective: Memory deficits have been shown in patients affected by schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar (BP)/mood disorder. We recently reported that young high-risk offspring of an affected parent were impaired in both verbal episodic memory (VEM) and visual episodic memory (VisEM). Understanding better the trajectory of memory impairments from childhood to adult clinical status in risk populations is crucial for early detection and prevention. In multigenerational families densely affected by SZ or BP, our aim was to compare the memory impairments observed in young nonaffected offspring with memory functioning in nonaffected adult relatives and patients. Methods: For 20 years, we followed up numerous kindreds in the Eastern Québec population. After having characterized the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders phenotypes, we assessed cognition (N = 381) in 3 subsamples in these kindreds and in controls: 60 young offspring of a parent affected by SZ or BP, and in the adult generations, 92 nonaffected adult relatives and 40 patients affected by SZ or BP. VEM was assessed with the California Verbal Learning Test and VisEM with the Rey figures. Results: The VEM deficits observed in the offspring were also found in adult relatives and patients. In contrast, the VisEM impairments observed in the young offspring were present only in patients, not in the adult relatives. Conclusion: Implications for prevention and genetic mechanisms can be drawn from the observation that VEM and VisEM would show distinct generational trajectories and that the trajectory associated with VisEM may offer a better potential than VEM to predict future risk of developing the disease.

These results suggest that exposure to maltreatment has an impact on specific cognitive processes, regardless of age.

Several meta-analyses have been published that evaluate the impact of psychiatric disorders on neuropsychological functioning. The first objective was to investigate transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments across several psychiatric disorders. The second objective was to document transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments across the life span. A literature search was conducted to identify all meta-analyses of neurocognitive deficits in psychiatry published prior to August, 2017. The following psychiatric disorders were considered: mood disorders, psychotic disorders, autism spectrum disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety disorders. The R-AMSTAR (Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews) was used to assess methodological quality. The final selection included only the most rigorous meta-analyses. A total of 36 meta-analyses were included. They documented neurocognitive impairments in schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Across all disorders, deficits in executive functions and in episodic memory were the most severe and the most frequently reported. Severe deficits in executive functions were frequently reported across age groups. Neurocognitive impairments are observed in almost all disorders, in all age groups. Some neurocognitive impairments are more frequently reported across all disorders. Deficits in executive functions and episodic memory appear to be transdiagnostic and to remain relatively stable across the life span. Transdiagnostic factors could be key targets for transdiagnostic cognitive interventions in psychiatric populations. Neurobiological, neuropsychological, and genetic hypotheses of transdiagnostic neurocognitive impairments are discussed.